This Is The Year
by cabenmichael
Summary: It's the early '90s and best friends Alex, Olivia, and Abbie are learning about life and love during their senior year of high school. Slow burn Alex/Olivia. Abbie/Serena. Revised version.
1. Rush, Rush

**A/N:** For those of you who read the story on my old account, this is going to be a revised version of that story with some new content. As I re-read the original version of this story, I felt as if I had rushed a few things and, since I lost access to that account over the years, I've decided to revise it on a new account and give the story a more detail ending instead of ending it so abruptly. As always, thanks for reading.

* * *

Alex Cabot was awoken from her dream by the obnoxious ringing from the alarm clock on her nightstand. She was tempted to hit the snooze button, but she knew no matter how much she tried, she would never be able to return to the dream about her girlfriend. While still half asleep, she tried to remember why she had set an alarm for 6 o'clock. She glanced at the calendar hanging on the wall and saw that today's date was circled in red ink.

"No, not the first day of school," she groaned and then closed her eyes again.

"Alexandra," her mom said as she knocked on the door half an hour later. "You're going to be late."

Alex slowly made her way out of bed and glanced at the un-ironed outfit she had laid out last night. She had every intention of ironing it before she went to bed but instead she spent nearly the whole night on the phone with her girlfriend. There was so much she had to do to prepare for the first day of her senior year, but she could never resist Casey. Their phone conversation wasn't important, but Alex didn't care. She willingly stayed on the phone with Casey for five hours as they talked about the new school year and argued over who was cuter.

Alex grabbed a pair of underwear from her drawer, kissed a picture of Casey, and finally made her way to the shower. She knew she wouldn't have time to iron her outfit so she planned to just toss on a t-shirt and jeans and throw her hair back in a ponytail. It was a far cry from how she had wanted to look on the first day of her senior year, but she knew last night's phone conversation with Casey was worth it.

Olivia Benson glanced at her watch and noticed that her best friend Alex was ten minutes late. It wasn't like Alex to be late, but Olivia knew there was a certain redhead occupying Alex's time.

"You look...nice," Olivia said hesitantly as she got into the passenger seat of Alex's car and saw that her best friend looked half asleep and didn't have a stitch of makeup on.

"No, I don't," Alex said as she tried not to yawn.

"Casey keep you up all night?" Olivia asked even though she already knew the answer.

Alex gave her a half smile and Olivia started looking for something decent to listen to on the radio. She quickly changed all the love songs and settled on Nirvana.

"Casey loves Nirvana," Alex said to Olivia.

"You say that every time we hear one of their songs," Olivia teased. "I'm just glad we don't have to listen to Amy Grant again."

"Oh, and MC Hammer is so much better?" Alex asked sarcastically. "For the record, Olivia, it will never be Hammertime in this car."

Olivia and Alex looked at each other and started laughing. It had been six months since Casey told Alex she was in love with her and, ever since then, Alex had been listening to nothing but sappy love songs, many of which contained the words "babe" or "baby." Olivia missed Alex's old taste in music, but she tried to be happy for her best friend. She only wished that she could find a girlfriend of her own, or at least a girl to date. Her girlfriend of ten months had broken up with her at the beginning of summer and, although many people thought Olivia was beautiful, she knew her high school didn't exactly have the largest lesbian dating pool. Every girl she knew was either straight or had a girlfriend. She was reminded of this when Alex stopped the car and her other best friend Abbie hopped in with Serena, her new girl toy.

Abbie Carmichael couldn't contain her excitement when she and Serena got into the backseat of Alex's car.

"It's senior year!" she said. "We've been waiting forever for this moment! Why are you both acting like someone died?"

"Olivia is still heartbroken," Alex told Abbie glumly.

"And Alex was up all night talking to Casey," Olivia informed her.

"Oh," Abbie averted her eyes and prepared for the inevitable awkward silence. She then squeezed Serena's hand and hoped that gesture would convey how sorry she was for the way her friends were acting.

Olivia turned around to face Serena in the backseat. "Consider yourself lucky."

"Why?" Serena asked with a confused look on her face.

Alex glanced at the rearview mirror so she could see Serena. "You're a junior and you're riding to school with us. My girlfriend is a junior and she couldn't even get a ride with us."

"Alex," Abbie scoffed. "Casey lives right across the street from our school. She doesn't need a ride. And we've known Serena since we were in junior high. Stop talking like she's some random girl."

Serena smiled at Abbie and pulled her in by the collar. When she saw Serena kiss Abbie, Olivia shifted her focus from the two of them to the sight of her town whizzing by at 45 mph. Fallbrook, New York, had been Olivia's home since preschool and, although she had spent most of her teen years wishing she could live somewhere glamorous like New York City or LA, now that the first day of her senior year had approached, she wanted to hold onto small town life for as long as she could. She was riding to school in a car with her best friends just nine months before graduation and, in that moment, Olivia realized she was exactly where she wanted to be regardless of her relationship status.

"Hey, lovebirds," Olivia turned around to tease Abbie and Serena. "Time to stop kissing. We're almost to the parking lot."

Abbie reluctantly stopped kissing Serena and gathered her stuff together so she could get out as soon as Alex parked the car. She had hoped to hang out in the parking lot like they did their first day of junior year but they were running late and they still had to pick up their class schedules. When she was sure that nobody other than Alex and Olivia were in sight, she kissed Serena one more time.

"This is it," Abbie said as they left the parking lot and made their way over to the quad. "It's senior year. I think this is the year I finally come out to my family."

"This is the year I finally find a girl worth dating," Olivia told them.

Alex started blushing. "And _this_ is the year I'm finally going to make love to Casey."

"This is the third year you've said that, Alex," Olivia pointed out.

"And she still hasn't let you make it past first base," Abbe added.

"I know," Alex sighed. "I was wrong about sophomore year being the year and junior year being the year, but senior year is _definitely_ the year."

Abbie had a feeling Alex wouldn't make it past second base this school year, but she didn't have the heart to tell her. Instead, she looked at Serena and started to feel grateful that she was with a girl who let her get to third base on the first date.

"I'm gonna go to the Juniors' table to get my schedule," Serena told them. "The line is getting long."

"Not as long as the Freshman and Sophomore tables," Olivia pointed out, but Serena had already taken off. She turned to Abbie and Alex. "Look how empty the Senior table is. I think everyone is waiting for the last possible second to get their schedule."

"Senioritis strikes early," Abbie quipped.

"Not for me," Alex insisted. "If I'm going to be valedictorian, I need to have a strong start. I'll meet you girls at the table so we can compare schedules."

"She's going to be valedictorian," Olivia bragged when she knew Alex was out of earshot. "There's no doubt about it. Alex is smart and determined and, whenever she has a goal, she works so hard to achieve it."

"Yeah, Lex is brilliant. Blah, blah, blah," Abbie laughed. "We all know it, Liv. We've known it since we were kids."

"She's been my friend since preschool," Olivia pointed out. "I'm proud of her. I'm proud of you, too."

"Liv," Abbie said as she put her arm around her. "That whole thing about this being the year you find a girl worth dating, well, I think you've already found her."

"Who?" Olivia asked, although she already knew the answer.

"Just admit it."

"She's with Casey and she's happy," Olivia reminded her. "What kind of friend would I be if I ruined that?"

"You'd be her _girl_ friend," Abbie pointed out. "Face it, Liv. It's not your ex that has you heartbroken. Jenny was just a distraction."

"Abbie, no," Olivia shook her head. "Alex can't be the only girl in the world who can make me happy. I'm sure there's some other girl who is beautiful and-"

"Sorry, Liv," Abbie interrupted her. "I know you're hinting at something, but you don't put out the way Serena does."

"What?" Olivia asked as her eyes widened.

"Gotcha," Abbie laughed.

"You are so dead, Carmichael."

Abbie took off running to the quad with Olivia trailing behind her. Although Olivia was also an athlete, Abbie's years of experience in track always worked to her advantage.

They stopped short of the Senior table and noticed Alex was already scanning her schedule. " _Welcome back, Class of 1992,_ " the banner above the table read. The sight of those words brought a chill to Abbie. She looked at their senior class president checking in students and handing out their schedules. It dawned on her that this would be the last time she picked up a new schedule from that school and the last time she'd experience the first day of school with her best friends. She noticed Olivia looking adoringly at Alex as Alex talked about how happy she was that the three of them were going to have the same physics class. " _This is definitely going to be their year_ ," Abbie thought.


	2. Basket Case

After Serena Southerlyn picked up her class schedule, she started scanning the area for her best friend Casey. She had no idea what Casey might be wearing, but she knew it wouldn't be hard to find a girl with fiery red hair in the crowd. She found Casey leaning against a wall with a loose beanie on her head and headphones over her ears and she couldn't help but laugh at how much her best friend's style had changed over the summer. Instead of the trendy clothes she wore as a sophomore, Casey was now dressed like a slacker, but what Serena thought was even worse was that Casey also listened to their music.

"Yo, Serena!" Casey shouted and Serena made her way over to the wall as quickly as possible.

"What the hell has the summer done to you?" Serena asked and Casey just started laughing.

As they walked over to the seniors' table, Casey was stopped by Mr. Campbell, the principal.

"Good morning, Mr. Campbell," Casey said as politely as possible. "It's so great to see you again."

Mr. Campbell pulled the beanie off of Casey's head and handed it back to her. "Miss Novak, you know there are no beanies or hats allowed on this campus. And the next time I see that Walkman, it's coming with me."

As soon as Mr. Campbell turned his back, Casey put her beanie back on and tied her flannel shirt around her waist. "The school year hasn't even started and he's already picking on me," Casey said to Serena. "Just two more years, Rena. Just two more years and we're done with this place."

Serena smiled at Casey even though she didn't feel the same way. She knew Abbie would probably go to school in Texas next year, so she wanted to enjoy every day she had left with her. She saw Abbie with Alex and Olivia and she couldn't help but smile at how happy Abbie seemed about the new school year. It was one of the many moments she wished she could go up to Abbie and kiss her, but she knew how her fellow students would react so she just grabbed Casey by the arm and lead her to their girls.

Casey tried to contain her excitement when she saw her girlfriend, but a whole summer without seeing Alex was too much to bear. She ran up to her girlfriend and wrapped her arms around her.

"I missed you," Casey said as she hugged her girlfriend. "I'm never going to let your family take you on vacation all summer again."

"I missed you, too, sweetie," Alex said to her. "And don't worry, I don't think they'll ever want to do that again. All I did was talk about you."

Once Alex pulled away from Casey's embrace, Casey looked around and saw a heterosexual couple kissing not too far from where they were. Casey longed for the opportunity to kiss Alex at school, but she knew they'd have to wait until they got to Alex's house or found a secluded spot on campus. Casey didn't care whether or not she was out to her peers, but she knew it mattered to Alex. Even though Casey thought her girlfriend was beautiful, she knew her peers had a different opinion. Ever since childhood, Alex was made fun of for being a good student and for wearing glasses. She had been called a geek and a nerd, but their classmates' favorite name for her was "Four Eyes." The last thing Casey wanted was to add "dyke" to the list of names that Alex was called on a daily basis.

Casey knew her girlfriend was going to get even more beautiful when she was older, but no matter how much she told Alex that, she wouldn't believe her. To cheer herself up, Casey took her beanie off and placed it on Alex's head.

"I love the way that looks with your glasses," Casey said to her girlfriend.

"Miss Novak, what did I tell you?" Mr. Campbell asked Casey when he saw her put the beanie on Alex.

"Uhh...straighten up and fly right?" Casey asked sarcastically.

"Miss Novak, you have just bought yourself one day of detention. I'm assuming you remember where."

"3:10, Math wing, Room M12," Casey recited. "The same as last year and the year before that."

After Mr. Campbell left, Olivia started laughing. "You're lucky he didn't see the skateboard strapped to your backpack."

"Five dollars says he'll notice it by the end of the day," Casey told her. "I swear he has it out for me."

"Babe, please try not to get detention tomorrow," Alex said to Casey. "The more time you spend in detention, the less time I have to kiss you."

"You two are disgusting," Abbie said to them. "And it's been years. Shouldn't you do something more than kissing?"

"For your information-," Casey started to say until she was interrupted by a girl she had never seen before.

Connie Rubirosa looked over her class schedule and the map provided, but she still had no idea how to get to her first period class. She knew she should ask someone for help, but she had no idea who to ask. All of the girls were in cliques and those who weren't in cliques looked even more unapproachable. As a cheerleader, Connie should have felt more confident on this campus, but the fact that she had just moved from Hollywood that summer and nearly all of the girls on her squad had known each other since elementary school left her feeling insecure about her social standing. At her old school, she was well-liked and even had a shot at becoming captain of her squad, but at North Fallbrook High School, she found herself starting all over.

Connie spotted a group of girls who looked different from the other girls at the school. Usually the jocks separated themselves from the slackers and the nerds, but this group included a little bit of everything. Two of them were in letterman jackets, one looked like a nerd, one had a skateboard, and the other was dressed like a stereotypical preppy. Connie overheard a fragment of their conversation and realized they were the type of girls she could approach. She quickly fixed her cheerleading uniform, tightened her hair ribbon, and walked up to them.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but do you know where－," Connie started to ask until she laid eyes on one of the girls in a letterman jacket. She looked at the name "Olivia" embroidered on the jacket and the number "92" on the sleeve.

"What are you looking for?" Olivia asked her and Connie tried to remember why she had approached them in the first place.

"Do you know where I can find room 31?" Connie asked her. "This map makes absolutely no sense to me."

"Room 31? Chem?" Casey asked and Connie just nodded. "That's mine and Serena's first period class. Want to walk with us?"

"Yes!" Connie said almost a little too excitedly. "I'm Connie, by the way. I just moved here from Hollywood in June."

"You moved from Hollywood to this hell hole town? You poor thing," Abbie said before introducing herself and her friends. "I'm Abbie. Your two tour guides are Casey and Serena. The blonde over with the glasses is Alex and my olive-skinned goddess of a friend over here is－"

"Olivia," Connie said and couldn't help but agree with Abbie's description of Olivia. "I read it on her jacket."

Alex and Abbie started to snicker and Connie noticed Olivia was trying not to blush.

"We better go. I think the bell's going to ring soon," Serena said to Connie so she could get her out of that embarrassing situation.

Casey and Serena grabbed their backpacks and walked with Connie to their chemistry class. Fallbrook was still a far cry from Hollywood, but with Olivia there, Connie figured it couldn't be _that_ bad.


End file.
